5 Travel Guides You’ll Want to Pick Up
How delivering content in engaging features is changing tourism marketing.
Insider’s favorite spots. Sweeping photo spreads. Practical — but delightful — trip tips. Magazines have long since been a trusted and sought-after resources for travelers planning their next getaway. After all, who doesn’t love flipping through a travel magazine?
Smart convention and visitors bureaus and tourism offices are following suit. Gone are the days of printed guides that are light on photography and heavy alphabetical listings. Now, depending on the destination, potential travelers are likely to browse magazine-style travel guide publications with in-depth features and clever editorial packaging. In fact, you can barely tell the best of them apart from the city’s or state’s lifestyle publications. And that’s the point.
These tourism offices and CVBs are creating guides that travelers happily read — and help them plan in the process.
Travel Portland
We love: The Next in Line feature, which pairs classic standbys (Voodoo Doughnut) with next gen standouts (Blue Star Donuts) in a handful of categories
California Vacation Guide
We love: How the publication’s direction reflects its demographic — whether in type treatment, content or its foamy What’s on Tap page layout
Virginia is for Lovers
We love: The simplicity — a magazine-style design refresh can do wonders. Bonus: Clickable links that take readers to more relevant content
Travel Illinois
We love: My 5 Faves, a recurring sidebar where a local shares their themed itinerary suggestions, like The Violet Hour bar manager’s picks for a romantic weekend
New Mexico True Adventure Guide
We love: Sidebars like Top Events and Ask a Local, an organic way to weave in listings and happenings without the traditional “listing” feel